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Issue No 112 February 18, 2008
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FEATURE STORIES:
4. Ontario Historical Society Annual Heritage Day
IN THIS ISSUE: EVENTS submit an event
1. Creating the Urban: Toronto, 1793-1914
NEWS | ACTION submit a news or action item
12. Last Call for Marygrove, Horwood and White designed Muskoka Resort
LINKS submit a link
16. Canadian Architect: Harbourfront launches Architecture Exhibition Space
SUPPORT 45. Support Built Heritage News
CONTACT
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| EVENTS : Issue No 112 February 18, 2008 | |||||||||||
1. Creating the Urban: Toronto, 1793-1914
in this lecture, Carl Benn explores the main events that saw the Toronto area evolve from a backwoods settlement on the 1790s Upper Canadian frontier to a modern place within the Dominion of Canada on the eve of the Great War. Mr. Benn won the 2007 Heritage Toronto Award of Excellence in the media category for the online publication, "The History of Toronto: an 11,000-year journey." | |||||||||||
2. Inside Toronto: Urban Interiors 1880s to 1920s
This illustrated talk is based on Sally Gibson's book which won the 2007 Heritage Toronto Award of Excellence and was short-listed for the 2007 City of Toronto Book Award. The talk includes intriguing photographs of interiors of early public and private buildings. | |||||||||||
3. Building Toronto: Archives and Architects
The City of Toronto Archives and The Friends of the Archives of Ontario will present a series of four lectures on architectural topics, entitled “Building Toronto: Archives and Architects” | |||||||||||
4. Ontario Historical Society Annual Heritage Day
Enjoy refreshments, music, seeing old friends, and making new ones. Free street parking | |||||||||||
5. Loyalists at Table: Food Fellowship and Folklore
The Toronto branch of the UEL are having Dorothy Duncan speaking on the topic of "Loyalists at Table - Food, Fellowship and Forklore". Dorothy is a well known author and lecturer noted especially for her knowledge of Canada's heritage foods and customs. | |||||||||||
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6. Logotopia
Logotopia: the Library in Architecture, Art and the Imagination is a multi-disciplinary exhibition and publication featuring original artworks, commissioned essays and stories, contemporary library architecture, library lore and ephemera, and pop culture icons. Artists, writers and architects explore the library as a concept and a built form through four distinct categories—the Universal Library, the National Library, the Public Library, the Private Library—and take a peek into the future of new technology and the librarian as cyber avatar. | ||||||||||
7. 30th Annual Meeting of the Alliance for Historic Landscape Preservation
The Alliance's 30th annual meeting will take place in the exciting metropolitan city of Montreal from May 28-31, 2008. Montreal boasts many opportunities to learn and to exchange knowledge in a challenging urban environment. Experience firsthand the Lachine Canal which played a decisive role in the industrial development of Montreal, and witness its blossoming as a cosmopolitan city which culminated in Expo 67. | |||||||||||
8. Canadian Architect: Architecture at Toronto's Harbourfront
Toronto's public space is set to be redefined by a new exhibition location for architecture launching March 2008. Harbourfront Centre will establish the first public venue in Toronto devoted to presenting exhibitions which challenge, educate and question the prevailing thoughts, ideas and practices informing contemporary architecture. Quarterly exhibitions will present debates, dialogues and challenges between exhibiting firms - with each exhibition constructed specifically to investigate a proposed idea. Architects will present their ideas and speculations through constructed model forms/objects, printed images, new media and mixed media. This approach will encourage creative links within the architecture community while providing animated and educational public access. This space will also be used extensively with visiting school groups and the Urban Studies program in order to relate architectural practice to younger generations. | |||||||||||
9. Citizen Lambert: Joan of Architecture screens in Toronto
Citizen Lambert: Joan of Architecture screens in Toronto As part of the Reel Artists Film Festival in Toronto, this screening takes place at 3:30pm on Sunday, February 24 in the Al Green Theatre at the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre, located at 750 Spadina Avenue. Teri Wehn-Damisch's film provides a unique glimpse into the world of Phyllis Lambert, renowned Canadian architect, urban activist and founder of the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal. The figure that emerges from Wehn-Damisch's composite portrait is a visionary thinker with boundless energy, a feisty woman driven by joyful ambition, a free spirit. The film begins with an introduction by Marianne McKenna, partner in Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects. There will be a special post-screening conversation with Phyllis Lambert and The Globe and Mail architecture critic Lisa Rochon. Buy your tickets by calling 416.368.8854 ext. 102 or purchase them online at | |||||||||||
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11. Capture the Heritage
The winning artist of a Brighton art contest could receive up to $550 in cash prizes, and will share a $2,000 purse with more than 25 other artists of all ages representing myriad disciplines. | |||||||||||
| NEWS | ACTION : Issue No 112 February 18, 2008 | |||||||||||
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12. Last Call for Marygrove, Horwood and White designed Muskoka Resort
If you have ever dreamed of owning a Muskoka resort, with a gorgeous heritage building on it&this is your chance. But you will have to move quickly. A demolition permit has been issued for Marygrove, the retreat, and childrens camp owned by the Sisters of St. Joseph on Lake Joseph. The building was originally known as Glen Home, operated as a hotel by Lambert Love, whose family had also built and operated Elgin House. The building is an unusual Muskoka example of Streamlined Moderne, designed in 1937 by Horwood and White Architects. It is listed on the Municipal Register of Heritage Property. The designation report for the building which contains a full description of the buildings history and the significance of its architects can be found on the Architectural Conservancy of Ontarios (ACO) website, under Buildings at Risk. http://www.arconserv.ca/buildings_at_risk/show.cfm?r_id=2 Even though the former Muskoka Lakes Municipal Heritage Committee (MHC) recommended this building for Designation, Council failed to take the advice. As this was the third rejected designation report for vanishing Muskoka hotels, frustration triggered a much-publicized mass resignation of the MHC in 2006. Members of the committee have since founded the Muskoka branch of the ACO, and attracted over 50 members. When the MHC visited the site prior to writing the designation report they noted that the building had been kept in excellent condition with all of its original Moderne interior plaster and wood detailing in-tact. The 126 acre property has been on the market for about a year, with D.T.Z. Barnicke holding the listing. The realtor now believes that the site, zoned for a childrens camp, would be more marketable without the building on it. When contacted recently to get information on the real estate listing I was told by the listing agent that if there was a buyer interested in purchasing the former hotel they would need to act quickly, that the owners plans for the property be changing very soon. If you or someone you know might be interested in the purchase of this building contact Will Jephcott at DTZ Barnicke 416-863-1215. Unfortunately there is no listing for the property online. | ||||||||||
13. Family Day/Heritage Day?
No one can argue that winter is not part of Canadian heritage but I have always wondered why Heritage Day and Week are in the depth of winter when weather limits the kinds of events, sometimes resulting in cancellations. I found the answer at last years Heritage Canada conference. When the idea of establishing Heritage Day and Week (in Ontario) was discussed it was hoped that initiatives to set up a mid winter holiday in February would result in co-incidence, and it would thus Heritage Day would grow to become a national holiday. The co-incidence has happened in Ontario with the establishment of Family Day, but is not reflected in the name of the holiday. Family Day is also a holiday in Alberta, and Saskatchewan so the name Family Day seems to have momentum. No doubt many families will use the occasion to visit Heritage Day events planned in their communities. If the heritage community wants this day to be Heritage Day, it is time to give our MPPs a call and remind them of the co-incidence and suggest that Ontario Heritage Day is the better name. After all we were there first! On the other hand, perhaps it is time to move Heritage Day activities to the long Civic weekend in August, (Simcoe Day in Toronto), another holiday that has never quite found a raison d'etre. | |||||||||||
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14. Ontario Heritage Tool Kit Reprinted
Due to popular demand, the Ontario Heritage Tool Kit has been re-printed! | ||||||||||
15. Jane Beecroft Gets a New Space
Community Heritage project has a new home, thanks to the Bank of Nova Scotia in donating the use of the second floor of their bank at the southwest corner of Queen and Church. It was a last-minute rescue which came into being two weeks after CHP had been moving its files and books into temporary storage space arranged by a member of the Gooderham family. It will take until the end of April at least to get everything together and organized in the new quarters. Battles with Rogers resulted in CHP going back to Ma Bell, and the telephone promised with its original number – will be hooked up on the 19th February. | |||||||||||
| LINKS : Issue No 112 February 18, 2008 | |||||||||||
16. Canadian Architect: Harbourfront launches Architecture Exhibition Space Architecture at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre represents a new keystone to exploring current architectural practice in Canada Toronto's public space is set to be redefined by a new exhibition location for architecture launching March 2008. Harbourfront Centre will establish the first public venue in Toronto devoted to presenting exhibitions which challenge, educate and question the prevailing thoughts, ideas and practices informing contemporary architecture. Quarterly exhibitions will present debates, dialogues and challenges between exhibiting firms - with each exhibition constructed specifically to investigate a proposed idea. Architects will present their ideas and speculations through constructed model forms/objects, printed images, new media and mixed media. This approach will encourage creative links within the architecture community while providing animated and educational public access. This space will also be used extensively with visiting school groups and the Urban Studies program in order to relate architectural practice to younger generations. | |||||||||||
17. Globe and Mail: Parks Canada Conserving the Modern
Seeking an expanded notion of heritage There's a reason art galleries are bright, airy spaces with little visual clutter. A simple step over the threshold takes you into a quiet, meditative world far removed from the frenetic pace of daily life. | |||||||||||
18. Globe and Mail: The Environmental Costs of Demolition
CONSTRUCTION WASTEFactor in disposal costs 8During a renovation, most owners spend a lot of time thinking about the new material coming into their homes. They seldom give a thought to what will be taken out. There may be a dumpster sitting in the driveway, but typically, the homeowner doesn't know where it comes from, or what happens to the contents. | |||||||||||
19. Toronto Star: Possible Cost Award at OMB Worrying Citizen's Group
Developer's cost claims raise fears of legal chill Plans call for 473 new homes to be built in the village of Hillsdale, northwest of Barrie. | |||||||||||
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20. Toronto Star: Dunlap Observatory Protest
Observatory protest goes sky-high Concerned community members protest sale of Dunlap site, parkland Beneath clouded skies and with snow up to their ankles, some 150 astronomers, naturalists and concerned community members gathered around the David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill yesterday to protest its sale to a possible housing developer. Karen Cilevitz, member of the David Dunlap Observatory Defenders a community group opposed to the sale said she hoped the protest rally sent a clear message to the University of Toronto, which is selling the observatory and its 188-acre (76-hectare) parkland grounds.... | ||||||||||
21. Toronto Star: Dunlap Observatory
The ivory tower has become a counting house Christopher Hume It's enough to make you cry, but even an institution as august as the University of Toronto has been reduced to behaviour that would make the worst corporate money-grubber blush. Such is the lure of $100 million; not even the U of T can resist. That's how much the university could raise by selling the 77 hectares it owns in Richmond Hill. Too bad the site includes the venerable David Dunlap Observatory. Until money entered the picture, it was a place the U of T was proud to call its own. Of course, according to the university brain trust, selling the site is simply a matter of ridding itself of surplus property. Some might argue that there's more at stake for the institution than its bank balance or the fate of the country's most storied telescope namely, the institution's moral authority. | |||||||||||
22. Toronto Star: U of T, Letter to Editor, Dunlap Observatory
A new day for astronomy Sky falling at once-proud Christopher Hume's column fundamentally misrepresents the University of Toronto's decision to sell the David Dunlap Observatory and surrounding lands. First the facts. The land in question was donated to U of T in 1935 for one purpose: to create a world-class astronomy facility. As trustees of that gift, we are bound to the donor's original intent. Technological advances and urban sprawl long ago made it impossible to house a world-class astronomy facility on those lands. Indeed, neither our students nor any researchers we have hired in recent years make significant use of the observatory at all..... | |||||||||||
23. 24 HOURS: The End of the Hillcrest Motel
City landmark shuts down When the Hillcrest Motel opened its doors in 1949, rooms were renting for $5 a night. | |||||||||||
24. Amherst Daily News: High insurance costs lead heritage owner to de-register
Yet another heritage owner has asked Amherst to de-register his property because of what he feels are higher insurance costs. "My insurance company has a problem with the heritage designation,"John Dawson said. "Although I do not fully understand the nature of their problem, I do understand the ramification it is having on my coverage and it is not good. The end result is that I am paying more for coverage inferior to what I had before the heritage card came into play."Dawson, who is insured through Royal Sun Alliance, recently bought the former Bank of Nova Scotia House at 192 East Victoria Street, which is a municipally-registered heritage property. . . | |||||||||||
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25. NiagaraThisWeek.com: Tower goes on trial - Combatants go head to head in next round of fight over proposed development in Port Dalhousie.The Ontario Municipal Board hearing could take up to 15 weeks.
Port Dalhousie became forever associated with the word tower in April 2004, when the development group Port Dalhousie Vitalization Corp. presented its vision for the once independent village's commercial core. The PDVC proposal to city councillors, shown in a 3-D model, included a 100-metre (328 foot) glass tower with 80 condo units, a 70-room hotel to be constructed over the businesses on Lock Street, a 415-seat theatre and a more than 36,000 square feet of retail space. Almost immediately, residents from Port and the rest of St. Catharines began expressing their opinion of the proposal, both for and against. However, eventual leading tower opponent Port Realizing Our Unique Distinction (PROUD), which formed in 1999 to work toward the area's 2003 designation. | ||||||||||
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26. Kingston Whig-Standard: Kingston loses an 'Old Stone'; Margaret Angus was passionate defender of historic architecture
Margaret Angus wasn't born in Kingston, but she embraced the city as tightly as any Old Stone. And that term - generally reserved for anyone who has at least five generations of predecessors buried in Cataraqui Cemetery - was one that she adopted for her own with the publication in 1966 of her legendary book, The Old Stones of Kingston, and a lifetime spent preserving the old stones that make up the cityscape. Angus, a passionate defender of Kingston's historic architecture from the days when few people gave it a second thought, died yesterday morning, three months shy of her 100th birthday. Her landmark book on Kingston's history is still generating royalties; her passion for the city, its buildings and citizens is still fondly remembered. | ||||||||||
27. Hamilton Mountain News: City can back Lister Block, Education Centre, mayor says
Mayor Fred Eisenberger says the city has enough staff to move into both a refurbished Lister Block and a massive development proposed at the downtown Education Centre. While the city has previously proposed relocating its health department to the Lister Block, the Education Centre redevelopment is a "perfect fit" because it would also include a McMaster University family medicine centre, he said. "There's obviously a direct synergy between family medicine and public health," Mr. Eisenberger said. "We would look for other city staff (for the Lister Block). There's a thousand other staffers that are outside of the old city hall building that still need to be accommodated somewhere, that are at various locations and at various times the leases come up." | |||||||||||
28. Hamilton Spectator: Charges laid in Dynes demolition
The city has laid charges against the owner of the Dynes Tavern for illegally demolishing the beach landmark last summer. Tony DePasquale tore down the tavern, operating since 1847, just days after a consultant found the historic building could and should be saved. | |||||||||||
29. Hamilton Spectator: Time to buy Lister, says Eisenberger
The city will decide within two weeks if it wants to revive the Lister Block by purchasing the downtown landmark. It would cost the city $32.4 million over the next 20 years to buy the restored building -- more than $9 million less than the cost of leasing the space. | |||||||||||
30. Niagara Falls Review: City hall caught in middle of church's pew dispute
A dispute over the pews in the historic All Saints Anglican church has a group of parishioners looking to city hall and their bishop for intervention to keep them worshipping in the place they call home. About 90 remaining parishioners from the Robinson Street church are locked in a fight with the Anglican Diocese of Niagara over a historical designation the city gave the 150-year-old building and its contents. Most importantly, the pews - the wooden benches the Anglicans have used since 1857. "They're turning down the desires of 90 people to have their spiritual home there," said Dr. Jock Ainslie, a long-time parishioner. | |||||||||||
31. mykawartha.com: Cannington Town hall debate 'dragging' on
"If there's such a big interest in saving the building, where are all the people?" Harold Lodwick wants his council colleagues to stop "dragging their feet" on the future of the Cannington town hall. The Ward 2 councillor tried to spur discussion on the issue at Monday's meeting, but was met with only limited success. Noting the minutes of the December and January meetings of the town hall board of management, Coun. Lodwick questioned if there was any interest in the community to restore the building. | |||||||||||
32. Globe and Mail: Death of Ted Tyndorf TED TYNDORF 'THE CHIEF' Passed away peacefully on Saturday, February 16, 2008 in Toronto at the age of 54. He fought a valiant battle against cancer. Beloved husband of Christine for 31 years. Proud father of Matthew, Julie and Michael. Cherished son of Julia and the late Ludwik. Adored son-in-law of Stella Piekarski. Much loved brother of Henry and his wife Dianna and brother-in-law of Jerry and his wife Margaret. Sadly missed by his nephews Christopher, Mark, Taylor and Matthew and his nieces Teresa, Juliana, Evelyn and Cathy. Long time member of CIP OPPI and proud , alumnus of Ryerson University. | |||||||||||
33. London Free Press: Capitol facade worth saving
An architect's report says the front of the old theatre warrants preservation and restoration. A city-hired architect has concluded the front of downtown's Capitol Theatre is in good shape, laying the groundwork for using tax dollars to subsidize its restoration. "It's pretty amazing," Controller Bud Polhill said yesterday. "There may be a premium to pay but there will be a great benefit, too." Built in 1920 and originally known as the Allen, the Capitol has been, in recent years, a poster child for the struggle to preserve heritage in London. Theatre owner Shmuel Farhi demolished its rear and warned he'd complete the job, leaving a gap on a key but struggling stretch of Dundas Street, unless the city worked with him to preserve it. | |||||||||||
34. Chatham Daily New: Heritage awards given
Many of the recipients of the 2007 Mayor's Heritage Preservation Awards don't plan to rest on their laurels. This year's honourees officially received their award Wednesday during a reception at Willson Hall at the University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus. The Chute family, including sons Brian and Randy and their mother Mary, were selected for the People's Choice Award for the work they have done to preserve the Historic Park Street House of Worship. Other recipients included: | |||||||||||
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35. Winnipeg Free Press: Grassroots build foundation for fort's future
The plan to restore and celebrate Upper Fort Garry is charging ahead. There will be no surrender. No waving the white flag to an intransigent mayor or high-rise apartment developer and giving up on reclaiming historically sacred land. That's me talking, of course. But it's not just me. Bob Cunningham, the chairman of fundraising for the Friends of Upper Fort Garry, is even more emphatic that we'll hit the $10-million target by the March 31 deadline. "We've raised in excess of $4 million in three-and-a-half weeks and we're well on our way to the finish line," Cunningham told me Friday. "We have donations coming in from all across Canada." | ||||||||||
36. Saskatoon StarPhoenix: Heritage advocate seeks new use for St. Mary school
A local advocate wants the city's Municipal Heritage Advisory Committee to lobby to save the St. Mary Community School building."It has to be looked at. What could we do with this building other than just wipe it out?" says Margaret Hendry, a board member of the Saskatchewan Architectural Heritage Society and the Saskatoon Heritage Society. She also serves on the city's heritage committee. | |||||||||||
37. McGill University Health Centre: The MUHC signs Mount Royal heritage pact The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) is pleased to announce that it signed this afternoon, in the presence of Mr. Gerald Tremblay, Mayor of Montreal, and Ms. Christine St-Pierre, Minister of Culture and Communications, the Pacte patrimonial du mont Royal, which comprises fourteen institutions located on the mountain. By signing this pact, the MUHC has reinforced its commitment to protect and emphasize the heritage of Mount Royal. | |||||||||||
38. CNW Telbec: Heritage Canada Foundation Calls for Better Protection for Federal Heritage Buildings Appearing yesterday before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates to comment on the federal government's sale of nine buildings (including three heritage buildings) in August 2007, the Heritage Canada Foundation's executive director, Natalie Bull, called on the government to recognize its important role as the trustee of legacy buildings and to put in place better protection for heritage buildings under its care and those transferred to the private sector. | |||||||||||
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39. Heritage Canada Foundation Campaign Landmarks, Not Landfill The Heritage Canada Foundation and Canadians who care about historic places call upon the federal government to include financial incentives in its 2008 budget to keep landmarks from becoming landfill. · Jim Flaherty, the Minister of Finance;If you prefer to send a personal letter, take a look at the template we’ve developed by clicking send a letter. Send it as is, or use it as a starting point. If you have more time, consider participating in the Department of Finance’s 7-question online survey by clicking Federal Pre-Budget Survey. Draft responses have been developed as suggested guidelines. | ||||||||||
40. Canadian Architect: Prix de Rome Awarded Drew Sinclair wins the Prix de Rome in Architecture for Emerging Practitioners University of Toronto architecture graduate Drew Sinclair is the winner of the Canada Council for the Arts' Prix de Rome in Architecture for Emerging Practitioners. He will have the opportunity to study regional spatial planning initiatives in six cities in northern Europe. | |||||||||||
41. Rocky Mountain Outlook: St. Mary's hopes for historic registration
St. Mary's Catholic Church in Banff is seeking special heritage recognition. The Banff Heritage Corporation has endorsed a move to add the church to the voluntary registry of recognized heritage resources, but it is now up to council to give its final blessing. The Catholic Church is considered an A-ranked property, the highest level of importance on the voluntary list, which does not carry any legal protection, but is more of an acknowledgment | |||||||||||
42. Montreal Gazette: Glass towers may swallow old stone convent
On a plot of land on Rene Levesque Blvd. near St. Marc St. where a century-old former convent sits, two gleaming residential towers, 15- and 20-storeys high, are soon to rise. The stone-wall exterior of the original convent building, built in 1892 for the Congregation des Petites Soeurs des Pauvres as a residence for seniors, will be restored and preserved. Its interior will be converted into residences. About 300 new residences forecast for the $60-million project will cost about $350 a square foot, the average cost of downtown housing. But the view of the old building from Rene Levesque will be almost completely obscured by the building in front of it. | |||||||||||
43. Smithsonian Magazine: Unlocking Mysteries of the Parthenon - Efforts to restore the ancient temple of Athena are yielding new insights
During the past 2,500 years, the Parthenon-the apotheosis of ancient Greek architecture-has been rocked by earthquakes, set on fire, shattered by exploding gunpowder, looted for its stunning sculptures and defaced by misguided preservation efforts. Amazingly, the ancient Athenians built the Parthenon in just eight or nine years. Repairing it is taking a bit longer. A restoration project funded by the Greek government and the European Union is now entering its 33rd year, as archaeologists, architects, civil engineers and craftsmen strive not simply to imitate the workmanship of the ancient Greeks but to re-create it. They have had to become forensic architects, reconstructing long-lost techniques to answer questions that archaeologists and classical scholars have debated for centuries. | |||||||||||
44. Pincher Creek Echo: Municipal District of Pincher Creek takes steps to preserve history
The Municipal Heritage Partnership Program is hoping to preserve some of Canada's history. According to their website, over 20 per cent of Canada's historic buildings have been demolished. Matthew Francis, head of Municipal Heritage Services, met with the Municipal District of Pincher Creek to discuss seven potential sites in the district that could be considered for the program. The partnership program helps municipalities to identify, evaluate and protect their locally significant places. These seven sites were identified by the MD who had previously invited the general public to put forward sites that they felt were of value in the area. | |||||||||||
| SUPPORT : Issue No 112 February 18, 2008 | |||||||||||
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| CONTACT : Issue No 112 February 18, 2008 | |||||||||||